Posted December 16, 2013
A South Dakota judge will hear oral arguments on a
motion to dismiss in the $1.2 billion Beef Products Inc. (BPI) defamation
lawsuit against ABC News on Tuesday, according to an article by the Sioux City
Journal available here.
BPI argues that ABC News damaged the company by “misleading
consumers into believing that its signature product – lean, finely textured
beef or LFTB – is unhealthy and unsafe.”
ABC, its parent company, and six individual defendants,
including ABC anchor Diane Sawyer, have filed motions to dismiss. ABC’s motion to dismiss is available here. BPI’s response is available here. The lawsuit is available here.
In March of 2012, ABC News aired a series of broadcasts
on the product, referring to it as “pink slime.” BPI argues that those statements “caused
consumers and customers to lose confidence in the product, drying up 80 percent
of its business.” BPI further argues
that, as a result, it “was forced to close three of its four plants and cut
more than 700 jobs.” For more
information on the background of this case, a recent post from this blog is
available here.
South Dakota is one of 13 states with food disparagement
laws. The law allows treble damages,
which would bring the damages the company is seeking from $400 million in lost
profits to more than $1.2 billion.
For more information on food safety, please visit the
National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
